Bomba Music Essay

Maya Angelou once said, " Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances." This recent quote is an abstract way to say that everything in life has some music that makes people keep moving forward. But what is music? Music is the art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity (Merriam-Webster). So we can easy say music just express something that an author feels and could be expressed by rhythm and words. If you travel around the world and get to experience different countries you can see that each country, states, and cities have music that is part of their life's culture and express their background one way or another, and it also

First developed at the end of the 17th century, Bomba flourished along the coast of Puerto Rico where West Africans and their descendants worked the colonial sugar canes (Prfdance). It comes out of the musical traditions brought by enslaved Africans in the 17th century. To them, bomba music was a source of political and spiritual expression. The lyrics conveyed a sense of anger and sadness about their condition, and songs served as a catalyst for rebellions and uprisings. But Bomba also moved them to dance and celebrate, helping them create community and identity (Smithsonian). These celebrations were only permitted on Sundays and Feast Days (Prfdance). Just like different music categories, Bomba was used express their feelings and society struggles between the African slaves community. As the time has changed bomba music has evolved to be just part of the Puerto Rican culture and is always present in festivals and cultural

Bomba is described as a dialogue between dancer and drummer. It's as if the drummer were challenging the dancer to a rhythmic duel. The dance can go on just a long as the dancer can continue. It starts with a female soloist called "laina" who "sings a phrase evoking a primitive call." The drummer plays a rhythm, and the dancer responds in a "freestyle" manner. Men and women both participated in this dance, but do not dance in a partner form or touch at all.(Donna). Improvisation plays an indispensable role in these styles of Afro-Caribbean drum-dance music. It is embodied in the seemingly unpredictable and dynamic lead roles of the repique (solo drumming), the floreo (body movements of the dancer in response to the drum solo), and the soneo (improvised lyrics of the lead singer in the call and response section). As per wardrobe men usually wear all white and fedora hat and women wear plantation shirts and a head scarf (Bofill). This wardrobe also symbolizes the old clothes that african slaves use to